Stuck Here
by Jane Willow
Summary: Charlie can hear Claire crying, but he’s not exactly sure what to do...


**Stuck Here:**

Charlie can hear Claire crying, but he's not exactly sure what to do.

She's sitting in her tent, head on her hands, sobbing softly.

He stands stupidly a few feet behind her, looking for her to her new, sleeping baby in the cradle. She hasn't named him yet.

_Maybe it's just hormones…_ he tells himself. _Maybe I should just leave her alone_.

But her sobs are just breaking his heart.

He takes a few tentative steps forwards. "Claire?" he says quietly. "Claire, are you all right?"

Claire inhales deeply, but shakily, quickly wiping her eyes as Charlie sits next to her. "Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't really look it," he says with a goofy smile.

She shrugged, smiling back at him. "I guess not."

Charlie rests his elbows on his knees. "Anything I can do?"

Her pretty blue eyes are all red and puffy and it's all he can do to keep himself from pulling her into a hug. …But he's not exactly sure if she'd like that.

Claire looks down at the baby as he moves in his sleep. "No," she says, quietly.

Charlie just nods, more to himself then her. "Thought of a name yet?" Maybe changing the subject will help. At least, he hopes it will.

She shakes her head. "No… it's tougher then I thought it'd be," she says with a little smile. "I want it to be perfect, you know?"

Charlie smiles, too, looking at her. "I know."

They're quiet for a moment, watching the baby. Every once in a while Charlie steals a glance at her. She's so… _lovely_. He smiles at the adjective. _What would Tommy think if he knew I was thinking about a girl as "lovely"?_ But he'd rather not think about Tommy. He just wants to think about Claire.

He remembers how much he'd missed her when she had been taken and how horrible he had felt when she came back and didn't remember anything. He remembers that day in the rain and how terrified she looked. But those things didn't matter right now. But right now… right now things were good.

Perfect, almost.

"Charlie?"

"Yeah?"

"You think… you think anyone will ever come for us?"

Charlie sighs. This question is contanstantly going through his mind. He pushes memories or the French message out of his mind. "Well... the raft is almost done," he says, looking over his shoulder, down the beach to were the big raft sat idle in the sand. "Michael will find help."

Claire nods. "I know. I'm just… I'm so scared," she says, tears welling up again.

"You don't need to be scared, Claire," he assures her, leaning toward her. "I'll protect you. You and the baby." He tries to sound very manly, very sure of himself. But he knows he will. He'll kill a thousand Ethans before he lets anything happen to her again.

Claire shakes her head. "I'm scared that the baby is… stuck here." She looks away from the crib to Charlie. "I'm so scared that he…" She shrugs helplessly. "I'm scared he's trapped here." She tears up again. "I just want him to be able to go _home_."

Charlie puts his hands on her shoulder. "Claire," he says, looking at her, "I promise you, I will do everything I can to get you and the baby off of this island. That raft is leaving soon. And when it comes back with help, you'll be the first two on the rescue boats. And if that doesn't work, I'll find another way." Even he's surprised at how sure he sounds. But he _is_ sure.

"But, Charlie, how can-"

He shakes his head, interrupting her. "I don't know how, exactly. But I'll figure it out, all right? You don't need to worry about anything except the baby."

Claire thinks for a moment, then nods. She looks back at her new son.

Just as Charlie starts to tackle the impossible task of thinking of a way he might get them all rescued, Claire leans her head on his shoulder.

"Thanks, Charlie."

"Of course." He hopes she can't hear his heart racing in his chest.

He'll do it. He'll save them. Something will come up. ...But he'll think of it later.

He smiles to himself, making sure he remembers everything about this moment.

Right now is too perfect to think about anything else. Right now he's perfectly content to be "stuck here".


End file.
